Loom battens and controls



Dec. 31, 1968 CLAEYS LOOM BATTENS AND CONTROLS Sheet Filed June 22, 1966 INVENTOR MARCEL CLAEYS '6' 52 20 ATTORNEY Dec. 31, 1968 M. CLAEY-S LOOM BATTENS AND CONTROLS Sheet 2 are Filed June 22, 1966 INVENTOR MARCEL CLAEYS 9% 'ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,419,048 LOOM BATTENS AND CONTROLS Marcel Claeys, 86 Cours Vitton, Lyon, France Filed June 22, 1966, Ser. No. 559,621 Claims priority, application France, June 25, 1965,

3 Claims. 5:1. 139-188) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A main crankshaft causes oscillation of the batten around a secondary crankshaft which rotates at half the speed of the main crankshaft.

This invention is concerned with improvements in a loom batten and control means for operation of the batten. It is applicable to a loom having a main crankshaft and a secondary crankshaft which rotates at half the speed of the main crankshaft.

The improved features of this invention are particularly applicable to shuttleless looms. In traditional weaving, the weft or filling yarn is supplied by a movable member containing a relatively large supply of yarn. This member has been named a shuttle due to its back-and-forth motion from one side to the other side of the loom. The shuttle passes through the shed of the loom which is composed of warp threads, some of which are upwardly placed to form the top of the shed and some of which are downwardly placed to form the bottom of the shed. In its passage through the shed, the shuttle unwinds a fill of yarn or thread and is caught at the other side of the loom. The reed is used to beat the fill of thread, deposited in the shed, against previous fills which by this time comprise the manufactured cloth. During the time of beating, the shed usually is collapsed and remade, some or all of the warp threads previously forming the top of the shed, now forming the bottom of the new shed, while some or all previously bottom threads are in the top of the new shed. The shuttle is then propelled through the new shed, depositing another fill of yarn in this new shed and being caught at the other side of the batten.

The shuttleless or false shuttle loom is a relatively recent improvement in weaving machines. In such looms the supply of weft yarn is mounted as a stationary supply at one or both sides of the loom. A movable member grasps an end of thread from such supply and is propelled partially or fully through the shed. This movable member or weft-gripper is designed to grasp an end of the stationarily mounted yarn, the rest of the length of yarn, comprising a fill and perhaps a little more yarn, trailing behind the weft-gripper.

In one type of such loom, a plurality of grippers is employed to carry a length of filling yarn through the shed. Each of the plurality of grippers, in succession, grasps an end of filling yarn from the stationary supply at one side of the loom, propelled through the shed and releases the end at the other side, being caught by a brake box and returned to the loading position by a conveyor system. In another type of apparatus, a gripper mechanism reciprocates, shuttlewise, through the shed, grasping ends of filling yarn from a stationary supply at either side of the loom, being propelled through the shed and releasing the end of filling yarn at the other side of the loom. The trailing portion of the filling yarn, of course, is left in the shed, Where it is beaten, etc., as a fill in the traditional loom.

The shuttleless loom provides a number of advantages in weaving. It will be readily appreciated that a weftgripper need be only a small fraction of the weight of a traditional shuttle, which must contain a large supply of filling thread, thus passage of the weft-gripper through the shed is generally faster, making for greater productivity of cloth per loom. Also, the weight of the weftgripper remains constant during its use, rather than declining in weight as a yarn supply nears exhaustion. Thus, the speed of passage through the shed can remain constant during fabrication of a length of cloth and the time allowed for beating, shed formation, etc., may be more accurately gauged without allowance for variation in the speed of fill deposition in the shed. It is apparent, also, that the use of a shuttleless loom obviates the need for shuttle winding, the stationary weft holders being able to hold as much yarn as desirable, for example, being as large as warp-yarn holders.

It is apparent that a loom must contain certain features if it is to be used with either type of reciprocating weftdepositing mechanism, whether it be a shuttle or a false shuttle. Thus, the batten of the loom, which supports the reed used for beating the fill often may be extended laterally of the portion of the loom occupied by the shed and on such extensions may be supported means for catching the thrown shuttle or weft-gripper and for throwing the shuttle or weft-gripper back in a reverse direction after the new shed has been made.

It will be apparent that such shuttle control mechanisms operate once for each complete reciprocation of the shuttle while the reed, fastened to the batten, beats the fill once for each shuttle passage, that is, twice during a complete reciprocation of the shuttle. Thus, the loom may be provided With a secondary shaft for operating the brake and other controls which rotates at half the speed of the main shaft which serves to oscillate the batten and reed for weft beating.

This invention provides operating mechanisms for batten oscillation and brake actuation which are applicable to shuttle looms, but of particular Value in shuttleless looms by providing for batten oscillation only during the time period when the shuttle or weft-gripper is not inside the shed. Thus, this invention provides a cam surface for oscillation of the batten which has an operating section and a lost-motion section. The operating section of the cam surface causes movement of the batten for beating of the filling while a lost motion section of the cam surface allows the batten to remain stationary during part of the operation of the main crankshaft cycle. This stationary position is programmed to coincide with movement of a weft-gripper through the shed. Advantageously the oscillation axle for the batten is the secondary camshaft. An additional feature of the mechanism of this invention is the provision of a brake for the flying weftgripper, which brake is operated by cams fixed to the secondary shaft.

The invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a front view, partly cut away, of one end of a batten for a shuttleless loom;

FIGURE 2 is a partial cross-section along the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a partial cross-section along the line 33 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 with the batten and its accessories in another position of the operating cycle; and

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional View along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURES 1 and 2 show a cylindrical batten 11 to which a U-shaped flange 13 is fastened to provide rigidity and to provide means for mounting batten accessories, for example, by means of the slot or slots 15 in the flange 13. The batten 11 traverses the entire width of the loom 18 and bears the reed, etc., as is conventional. In the shuttleless loom embodiment shown in the drawings, the batten 11 also supports the false reed 20, the space between the bottom of the false reed 20 and the lower guide line 22, providing a raceway for a Weft-gripper, not shown. The false reed 20, is more fully described in my copending application Ser. No. 559,594, filed of even date herewith. Flange 13, in turn may support the end-flange 25, the upper surface 28, of which provides a continuation of the raceway for the weft-gripper.

The loom 18 is provided with a main crankshaft, shown in phantom lines as 30, (see FIGURES 3 and 4) which rotates about an axis 33. Arm 36 is attached to this crankshaft 30 at a pivot 32 which is in a position remote from the axis 33, and is pivotally fastened at pin 39 to the cam plate 42. Cam plate 42 is pivotally fastened to oscillate about the axle 44 and contains the cam-surfaced opening indicated generally at 46. This opening has a straight cam-surface opening portion 48 and an arcuate portion 50, since the arcuate portion 50 has for its center the axle 44, this section functions as a lost-motion device.

Within opening 46 the free wheel 52 is placed. This wheel is supported by tab portion 55 of the plate 58 which is journaled by hearing means 60 (see FIGURE 1) for oscillation about the secondary cam-shaft 63, which, because of the bearings 60, serves merely as a passive axle for the plate 58. As can be seen, plate 58 is fastened to the flanges 13 and/or 25, so that oscillation of the plate 58 causes oscillation of the batten 11.

Axles 44 and 63 are parallel and it can be readily seen that when the crankshaft 30 moves in the customary manner, following a uniform principle of rotation, plate 42 will oscillate back and forth continually around axle 44. During this movement, the wheel 52 will run back and forth continuously in the opening 46. If care has been taken to make the section 50 of the opening shaped like an arc concentric with the axle 44, the batten 11 will remain at rest while the wheel 52 is engaged in this section 50, assuming the position of FIGURE 4. On the contrary, when the wheel 52 is engaged in the straight section 48, the batten 11 oscillates around the shaft 63 and makes a stroke. By carefully choosing the lengths of the respective openings 48 and 50, it is possible to make the strokes of the batten 11 alternate with rest periods of a predetermined length during which the weftholder (not shown) can cross the loom without risking being deviated from its path. For example, it is possible to make the batten 11 stay immobile while the crankshaft turns 180 around the axis 33 and causes it to make a stroke and return during the remaining 180.

The rotating shaft 63 is used to control certain accessories of the batten and in particular, the braking systems with which the shuttle boxes are equipped. As shown in FIGURE 5, each braking system includes a shoe 66 whose far end is articulated around an axle 70 supported by the batten, for example, on stud 72 projecting upwardly from the bracket 25. The lower surface 75 of the shoe 66 rests upon the upper surface of the weft-gripper when it arrives at the end of its course. The surface 75 presses the gripper against its raceway, for example, the surface 28. The pressure applied by the shoe 66 may be controlled by a powerful spring 78 Whose tension can be adjusted by means of nuts 80 screwed on a threaded rod 82.

When the weft-holder enters the shuttle box arrangement shown in FIGURES 1 and 5, at the end of its course,

the brake 66, due to the action of the spring 78, exerts the desired braking effect. The brake 66 is lifted back against the bias of the spring 78 before proceeding to throw the weft-holder again in the reverse direction. To perform this operation, the extension of the batten is equipped with an axle 84 around which a wedge 86, which is normally engaged beneath the end 88 of the shoe, can pivot. This wedge 86 is joined to an oscillating lever 90 which an articulated rod 93 joins to a rocker 96. This rocker oscillates around an axle 99 on the batten, and it ends in a wheel 101 which rolls on a cam 103- 105 rotated by the shaft 63.

When the boss 105 of cam 103 passes under the wheel 101, the resultant movement of the rocker 96 lifts the wedge 86, which in turn lifts the shoe 66 and frees the weft-holder (not shown). To facilitate starting the loom and performing manual operations, the lever 90 is equipped with a handle 107 which can be raised manually to lift the shoe. In the embodiment described, the shaft 63 should turn at half the speed of the crankshaft of the loom in order to lift each shoe 66 only once for every two strokes of the batten.

It should be understood, of course, that the preceeding description is only given as an illustration and does not in any way limit the scope of the invention which can be applied with so many variations that it would be impossible to describe them all. In particular, the compass of the invention is not altered by mounting other cams on the shaft 63 in order to control various other batten accessories.

What is claimed is:

1. In a loom having a main crankshaft and a secondary shaft revolvable at half the speed of the main crankshaft, a means for operating a batten which comprises a cam surface having an operating section and a lostmotion section, said cam surface being connected by linkages to the said main crankshaft for oscillation due to rotation of said crankshaft, said cam surface bearing against a plate fastened to said batten, said plate having said secondary shaft for an oscillation axle, whereby said batten is oscillated for only a portion of each rotation of said main crankshaft.

2. The loom of claim 1 in which said batten supports a brake for a weft-carrier traveling in said loom, said brake being movable between operative and non-operative positions in response to a cam operated by said secondary shaft.

3. The loom of claim 2 in which the brake is springbiased to its operative braking position and is lifted from braking position in response to said cam.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,110,327 11/1963 Costa Font 139-190 FOREIGN PATENTS 495,301 6/1919 France.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner. JAMES KEE CHI, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 139-125, 187 

